Blockchain chronicle. For more than four years, Switzerland has hosted a large number of projects. Overview of this high potential ecosystem.
840 companies active in blockchain and cryptocurrency is the surprising figure shared by the Swiss Blockchain Federation last year. That is more than 4,400 jobs in the Zug crypto-valley alone.
Finma’s responsiveness in 2017 and 2018 has a lot to do with it. The Swiss regulator, anxious to offer a flexible and clear framework to the Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) of the time, as well as to blockchain projects as a whole, allowed a good number of companies to set up or prosper in Swiss.
The use of blockchain has intensified in recent months. The same is true with cryptocurrencies.
This is the case with flagships such as Bity, the Ethereum Foundation, Bancor, Wecan Group, Seba, Metaco, or even Bitcoin Suisse. And this in a variety of applications and activities (crowdfunding, tokenization, asset management, payment infrastructures, and banking infrastructures.)
The use of blockchain has intensified in recent months. The same is true with cryptocurrencies. Unlike in 2017, leading institutional players are now active in the field. Facebook and its Diem currency project (which recently announced it was leaving Switzerland) is far from the only example. In French-speaking Switzerland, major players like Swissquote offer crypto services to their clients.
With projects like Dfinity, a sort of cloud 3.0 built on the blockchain, Switzerland is also bridging the gap with Silicon Valley. The Zug-based Dfinity Foundation has a strong presence in the United States and its token called Internet Computer (ICP) has reached a valuation of $ 14 billion on trading platforms.
A pioneer in this area thanks to its reactive financial market regulator, Switzerland is in pole position.
On the art side, it is now hard not to hear about the famous NFTs. Christie’s hosted the first major auction of digital artwork. The latter made the headlines by reaching the astronomical sum of 69 million dollars. Sotheby’s is no exception. The auction house accepted two cryptocurrencies to participate in the sale of physical works.
Blockchain technologies are now increasingly present in the financial world. A pioneer in this area thanks to its responsive financial market regulator, and welcoming a large number of promising projects each year, Switzerland is in pole position. Innovation is not a sprint, but a marathon. And understanding the regulations and business models related to Blockchain is therefore essential in order to stay ahead of the game.
The entrepreneur and expert, Vincent Pignon, as well as the doctor of law Pascal Favrod-Coune, have published a book for this purpose with Schulthess editions, La Fintech en Suisse. Cartography has also completed the book in the form of a website. The latter lists all the players in this Swiss fintech ecosystem, i.e. more than 320 companies spread across the Confederation.
Financial Pills 